T

T budding
A technique that permits grafting of different grape varieties onto existing rootstocks in a vineyard.
T.B.A.
An abbreviation for the German wine Trockenbeerenauslese.
Table wine
Generally any wine that is not sparkling or fortified. In the US these wines must also be between 7% and 14% alcohol by volume.
Tannin
Polyphenolic compounds that give wine a bitter, dry, or puckery feeling in the mouth.
Tart
A tasting term describing a wine high in acidity. Often displayed by young, unripe wines.
Tartaric acid
The most important acid found in grapes.
Tasting flight
Refers to a selection of wines, usually between three and eight glasses, but sometimes as many as fifty, presented for the purpose of sampling and comparison.
Tears
See “legs”.
Terroir
French for “soil“, the physical and geographical characteristics of a particular vineyard site that give the resultant wine its unique properties.
Texture
A tasting term for the mouthfeel of wine on the palate.
Thief
A tubular instrument for removing a sample from a cask or barrel. Also called a pipe.
Toast
The charcoal that is burned into the inside of wine casks. To toast refers to that process. It also refers to the practice of drinking an alcohol beverage along with wishing good health or other good fortune.
Trocken
German for “dry“.
Trockenbeerenauslese
German for “dry berry selected“. A type of German wine made from vine-dried grapes. Such grapes can be so rare that it can take a skilled picker a day to gather enough for just one bottle.
Tun
A wine cask that holds approximately, two butts, or 252 U.S. gallons.
Typicity
A wine tasting term used to describe how much a wine expresses the typical characteristics of the varietal.

U

Ullage
Also known as headspace, the unfilled space in a wine bottle, barrel, or tank.
Unoaked
Also known as unwooded, refers to wines that have been matured without contact with wood/oak such as in aging barrels.

V

Varietal
Wines made from a single grape variety.
Vermouth
A fortified wine that has been flavoured with as many as 40 herbs and spices.
Vertical and horizontal wine tasting
In a vertical tasting, different vintages of the same wine type from the same winery are tasted. This emphasizes differences between various vintages. In a horizontal tasting, the wines are all from the same vintage but are from different wineries. Keeping wine variety or type and wine region the same helps emphasize differences in winery styles.
Vigneron
French for vine grower.
Vin
French for wine.
Viña
Spanish for vineyard.
Vine
A plant on which grapes grow.
Vinegar
A sour-tasting, highly acidic, liquid made from the oxidation of ethanol in wine, cider, beer, fermented fruit juice, or nearly any other liquid containing alcohol.
Vineyard
A place where grape vines are grown for wine making purposes.
Vinho
Portuguese for wine.
Vinho verde
An effervescent white wine produced in Portugal.
Viniculture
The art and science of making wine. Also called enology (or oenology). Not to be confused with viticulture.
Vinification
The process of making grape juice into wine.
Vino
Italian and Spanish, Originally derived from Latin, for wine.
Vintage
The year in which a particular wine’s grapes were harvested. When a vintage year is indicated on a label, it signifies that all the grapes used to make the wine in the bottle were harvested in that year.
Viticulture
The cultivation of grapes. Not to be confused with viniculture.
Vitis labrusca
A breed of grapes native to North America. See also Foxy.
Vitis vinifera
A breed of grapes native to Europe.
Volatile acidity: The level of acetic acid present within a wine.